Have your mind ever drawn a blank when asked to create an art piece, an essay, a design or a routine. We often say that someone is ‘gifted’ when he/she can often come up with something totally unexpected and different. However, when we use the term ‘gifted’, it often implies that a person is either ‘gifted’ or not and there are no room for improvements. Maybe a better understanding of the creative process may help improve one’s ‘creativity’.
Here are some commonalities of ‘creative’ people or the process itself:

  • they usually take interest in quite a variety of subject areas, cultures, maybe well traveled, well read, etc.
  • they are usually willing to dabble, play and explore and they are not afraid to be different
  • sometimes ideas come when they least expected it…like in the middle of the night, listening to music, driving a car
  • some of the ideas are actually ‘borrowed’ from a totally different use of the principle. They often have the ability to see ‘relevancy’ from seemingly unrelated things. E.g. Newton with the apple, Eureka with his tub overflow, etc.
  • some force themselves through a structured way of thinking to avoid solutions by habit. E.g. forced contrasts, forced randomness as starting point, forced multiple solutions, etc.

Exercise

  • How is creativity relevant to kung fu class?
  • From your own personal experience, what is usually the state of mind when the ‘solution’ comes? Share one of your craziest lateral thinking or creative thing you ever came up with.
  • When you feel stuck, what is often your state of mind or the circumstances?
  • Following are some interesting reading or play:
Creativity